i feel the school is a safe environment for the children. there should be a consensus between both the north and the south, and there shouldn't be any division. and questions too from students at queens university in belfast. the virus isn't going to stop at the border, is it? i think we should shut down. shut down the schools because it will stop the spread of it. i'm from spain, actually, and, like, the university is just starting to close right now, so i don't know why they're not following. but the irish republic did act to slow the spread of the virus. the question for northern ireland maybe not if, but when it follows. ed thomas, bbc news, dublin. now it's time for a look at the weather with tomasz. there is some rain on the way tonight. if it hasn't reached you already, it's been raining across some western and southwestern parts

of the uk, but there is not an awful off of it. —— an awful lot. you can see it moving across western areas. it may stay dry through the course of the night. just about cold enough for some wet snow there across the scottish hills. saturday starts off fairly cloudy with patchy rain in the morning, but then the weather will improve. we're expecting along the irish seacoast. —— expecting sunshine. during the course of saturday afternoon, so weather will come and go, the rain that is through the course of the weekend. we are also expecting similar whether through sunday as well. both saturday and sunday, a mixture of rain and sunshine.

this is the bbc news the latest headlines for now. the world... the world health organization declares europe the focal point of the global coronavirus outbreak. europe has not become the epicentre of the epidemic with more cases and deaths combined apart from china. in the usa — president trump declares a national emergency as it's confirmed 46 states have coronavirus. the action i am taking will open up access to up to $50 billion, a large amount of money for states and territories and localities in our shared fight against this disease. here the premier league, english football league and scottish fa fixtures are all off until april and there's no six nations rugby this weekend. there's new uk guidance for those with flu like symptoms — don't visit relatives, in care homes.

now on bbc news... 100 women — cagil kasapoglu travels to cyprus to meet the women donating their eggs to help others to conceive. women in cyprus are undergoing grueling procedures to donate their eggs. ifeel like i'm ready to give birth. i feel heavy. bloated. tired. pain. but are they motivated to do this freely as a donation, or are vulnerable and cash—strapped women being lured by the financial compensation? i need money. yeah, you need money. you know, i have a lot of things to do. taking care of kids, i need to buy food, take them to school.

if they have good genes they would offer them more money. good genes? yeah. yes. in what appears to be an unregulated market, there is no central database recording their donations. donors become untraceable, and children born from their eggs will probably never know their genetic heritage. with demand for donor eggs growing rapidly, i am going behind the scenes to find out how this hidden world operates. cyprus attracts women from around the world for egg donation treatments. and northern cyprus is a hotspot for women from my own country, turkey, where it is an illegal procedure.

social media brings donors and recipients together. 0nline, turkish women advise each other to travel to northern cyprus to get donor eggs. if caught, they could face a three yearjail sentence. clinics here offer low prices and complete anonymity. it's a lucrative business with shiny fertility clinics popping up in otherwise deserted areas. but does the glittering gift of life have hidden costs? i'm here to learn more about the secret world of a donation. please raise your hips, i am inserting a metal device. 0ne embryo. northern cyprus allows older women to receive eggs. sarah, not her real name,

has travelled from central europe. she desperately wants a child but at home, she has passed the standard age limit for fertility treatments which is a5. he laughs. fertility can be unemotional and deeply personal journey. —— in emotional. but for some women, the discretion offered by clinics here is even more important. the island of cyprus is divided. the north is only recognised by turkey, and the south is the greek—speaking republic of cyprus. the entire island has become a hub

for egg donation treatments because of its location between europe and the middle east. many from europe who come here are dubbed fertility tourists. the treatments are up to a third cheaper and come as a holiday package. for infertile couples from the surrounding middle east where egg donation is mostly illegal and hugely taboo, northern cyprus offers easy access to these treatments and provides absolute discretion. strict anonymity laws protect their identities. right throughout the muslim middle east, there is a religiously—based prohibition on the use of both donor sperm and donor eggs. the justification for that ban in that whole kind of sunni muslim region is that you want to protect the marriage. that the addition of gametes from outside would confuse the lines

of lineage and would also kind of infiltrate into a marriage in a way similar to adultery or something like that. for a lot of those families or those couples, i think they do it in a way that they want to go away and pretend that this never happened and they don't plan on anybody finding out. so, it is... it kind of feeds into that culture of secrecy. as well as complete privacy, clinics in northern cyprus match these women with donors who have the physical attributes they desire, and even more. i meet with this clinic coordinator. herjob is to consult with recipients on choosing their desired donor.

i want to know more about the women behind these forms. who are they, and what do they get in return for donating their eggs? my name is fallon, i am 30 years old. i've never done this before... fallon lives in the republic of cyprus. she made video diaries to show us what it takes to donate her eggs. i feel...

like i'm ready to give birth. i feel heavy. bloated. tired. pain. you know, like, sharp pains around the area. and... it is like i am ready to give birth without the baby. this is her fifth time donating eggs. each round requires two injections a day over a number of weeks. the process can cause swelling, pain, and hormonal fluctuations. fallon has four children of her own but she is the biological mother of potentially many more. choosing to donate my eggs to someone in need, it's... i find it a selfless, amazing... it's an amazing thing because there are a lot of women out there who can't have kids. i have four of them.

and believe me when i say that i wouldn't change my children for anything in this world. they are what i live for. so i canjust imagine that woman, that family longing to have their own child. i'm travelling to meet fallon and find out how she first heard about becoming an egg donor. hello, how are you? i found out about it on my facebook. they just popped on my wall actually. you know when you are just scrolling and then you see... that's what i was doing. it came up and i started reading. it turns out that social media is being used to recruit women as egg donors. and fallon tells me she has been receiving messages from an agent offering her a commission to refer other women. can you tell me more about those messages you have been receiving? here she is telling me to recommend other girls.

she says, "i will give your money to her. i told you the commission is 150, right? 125 for girls from india, philippines, nepal, orafrica." what do you make of this? it's a bit insulting, i will be honest with you because if she is saying 125 for girls from africa, india, then how much to the white girls get? we are all women. 0ur eggs are the same. i clearly see that there are a lot of people making money in this exchange. how do you see the system? it's corrupt. corrupt? mm—hmm. i think the money is being used as a weapon to lure people, especially those that don't have a lot. you know, those that don't have much in this world. there is nothing you can do about it because at the end of the day, you need the money. they are not losing, that person is losing because she is losing that compensation that can maybe feed her children

or pay her bill or something. fallon says for her, egg donation is purely about giving the gift of life. but that's not always the case when financial compensation is involved. a quick look on facebook turns up dozens of ads in groups seeking donors. advertising for egg donors is banned in northern cyprus but word still gets out online. as well as pulling on the heartstrings, money is also used to attract new donors. we never do advertisement that, "come, we will pay you, you will get money." we never do this. are they getting paid? these women are getting compensation.

we cannot say that, "getting paid" was quote because it is not a word used in europe because if you say that getting paid means that you are selling your eggs and you are buying your eggs, but it is not like that. they are donating their eggs. the issue here is that calling it a payment would suggest a trade in human tissue which would be illegal. in some countries like the uk, all female donors are compensated the same amount. but globally, the amount can vary hugely. one of the groups offering more compensation is travelling donors, an international egg donor agency. their compensation ranges between $2500 and $8000 us. i can see from your facebook page that the amount of financial compensation varies, why is that? some ladies are happy with accepting much lower compensation because the experience of travelling

abroad and knowing that that they are helping a couple is adequate for them. and then some women have higher educations or professional models or doctors and lawyers. intended parents can choose from more than 250 profiles of female donors from all over the world. on each profile, there is a different compensation status — economic, standard, and premium. but how female donors are being price tagged is a concern for some. here in cyprus, university students are targeted for their eggs. they are contacted via facebook ads and even face—to—face. i've come to meet students who tell me about what is going on inside universities. if they have good genes, they would offer more money. good genes? yeah. actually, we heard

something from our friend. her sister actually was approached by someone who is in this business maybe. and she was told that, "you look very beautiful, won't you donate your eggs..." one girl that i work with, someone wanted her to sell because they are like orange hair, it is not common. ginger. yeah, ginger. anecdotes are plentiful here but finding female donors motivated by money to talk to us on camera about their experience is much harder. after months of trying, i found ada and grace not their real names. they both frequently donated their eggs over a two—year period.

i need money, you need money. i have a lot of things to do. taking care of kids, i need to buy food and take them to school. i was not born in this country and when you have a problem, nobody cares about you. so i had to take care of myself to provide for myself to do all these things alone. the first time i did not know i was just going and they we re not know i was just going and they were giving me this money, 2000 lira. and then another girl told me

i could donate ten eggs for 1000 euros, it was a little bit up and so idid. euros, it was a little bit up and so i did. after every month, i decided to donate. after every month? yes. everyone month? yes. do they check how many times you've done it before? know. and you do not know how many eggs they are taking. before? know. and you do not know how many eggs they are takingm some countries in europe, donors details are kept on eight central register and can be traced. but donors in northern cyprus have com plete donors in northern cyprus have complete anonymity. they become untraceable and it means little is done to check on the donors afterwards. worst case scenario is women who are already economically disinfected to have very few wife options sort of being fondled into

the business of donating eggs because that is the only road available to them to make money. —— being funnelled into the business. the problem is if there is money being used to in some devices someone being used to in some devices someone to undergo a procedure, we can say that that compromises their consent. what is being done to protect these eggs donors? in terms of the global market? i think we can say almost nothing. very little is being done. we don't know what the long—term consequences might be if a woman donates eggs tell —— ten times 01’ woman donates eggs tell —— ten times or 12 times was up and she might go from one critic to another doing that and because we do not have any kind of global registry or even a national registry in many countries, there is no way to know what the long—term consequences are for those women. before donating, women are given hormones to make their body produce dramatically more eggs. but

this process can cause the ovaries to swell and be very painful. when women sign up to become donors, they are not necessarily getting the right information. so, fallon, have you been informed about the health risks? no, even on the ads, it says that it doesn't affect your health in any way. they told me that. but there has to be a breaking point. she can continue what i think she is donein she can continue what i think she is done in one year, you have done it three times this year.|j done in one year, you have done it three times this year. i don't know. three or four times this year and it is too much. but it is too much to be going through the whole process injecting yourself, it is not easy. not easy. fallon is going to the

clinic to have her eggs collected. for undergoing this screening procedure, women like fallon will typically receive up to 1000 euros for one cycle. that is up to a0 eggs. the recipients pay the clinics... which includes a minimum.

it is the basis of a multi—million dollar industry. and it is claimed cyprus has more fertility can expect then anywhere else in the world. we we re then anywhere else in the world. we were not allowed to fill fallon inside her clinic but i have been given where access to see an egg donation procedure elsewhere. the surgical procedure for donating eggs requires the donor to be put under anaesthesia as a needle is pushed into each ovary to retrieve their eggs. we were not about to interview the donor. initially she agreed to talk to me but the laws

here in northern cyprus don't allow us here in northern cyprus don't allow us to talk to them, that is what the clinic said. and it was really tense up clinic said. and it was really tense up stairsjust clinic said. and it was really tense up stairs just outside of the operation room. you could feel how sensitive this is for them, for the donors. it felt like almost there was a wall built around them and they were the donors were excluded ina room. they were the donors were excluded in a room. it is likely that children born from treatments like this in cyprus will never uncover biological heritage. after 50 years, the private clinics can destroy any donation records. the biological mothers essentially become ghosts. the next step is to create embryos which could give a couple a much longed for child.

this is the business of babymaking. from european fertility taurus to turkish women risking jail. the desperate yearning to become a mother means demand for donor eggs is only growing. —— fertility taurus. yet the women at the heart of this industry, the donors, are often the least valued and sometimes, the most vulnerable. the future calls for these women to be better protected but prospects are bleak as increasing demand for further eggs is turning these donations into a multibillion—dollar

business. hobo, thanks forjoining me. let's see what the weather is up to over the next few days. —— hello thanks for joining the next few days. —— hello thanks forjoining me. the weather will be quite changeable this weekend, rain and sunshine, a bit of wind, so far we have seen the jet stream moving across the atlantic. slightly colder weather in northern areas but undulations in the jet stream through the course of the weekend

and into next week meaning we will see a couple of low pressures moving across the uk bringing spells of wind and rain. it looks as though next week that jet stream moving further north and things start to settle down across southern parts of the uk, that is still to come. here we have saturday. early on saturday there will be some patchy around rain and discuss are going to clear so the anticipation is that london, birmingham, liverpool and at least through the book of saturday should be fairly bright but notice a approaching the west and north—west so that doesn't spell rain like for places like eliphaz, the late district, southwestern parts of scotla nd district, southwestern parts of scotland as well. and from saturday into sunday, we will see weather fronts moving across the uk, this is the forecast for sunday, you can see a weather front crossing the country bringing rain in the morning for perhaps a few showers coming in the

afternoon, sunday itself second half of the day across many western areas of the day across many western areas of the day across many western areas of the country looks absolutely find and the winds look pretty brisk around some of these western places. the big picture on monday, this figure hi is coming... this is from the is or islands, pressure to the north, this does spell for many of us north, this does spell for many of usa north, this does spell for many of us a sunny north, this does spell for many of us a sunny and chilly start. the night still long so it gets chilly during the course of the night. a lot of fine weather around both in the morning in the afternoon on monday. hardly a cloud in the sky for any of the major cities but the different story in the far north—west of london, we have a weather fronts moving through with low— pressure weather fronts moving through with low—pressure sitting across the north atlantic and here it is, a large area of low pressure goes iceland. it is moving a weather front across the uk, pushing a weather front across the uk. that does mean during the course of tuesday, it would bit more cloud

across parts of northern ireland and scotla nd across parts of northern ireland and scotland here but notice the head of the weather front we have a south—westerly succumbing all the way from the azores so that does mean it will be about if we mild temperatures and when he could get up temperatures and when he could get up to about 15 or higher in one or two areas. middle part of the week, and used to sweep across the country, not an active one, one that is not active means there will not be an awful lot of rain associated with it. here is one sick, cloud moving through the uk, perhaps time for fresher winds there during wednesday in the north of the country, maybe even some wintry showers across the hills but in the south, we will probably have that milder weather. and once that mother —— weather front moves through, it does look as though and of the week right about thursday, friday, saturday and sunday, a high pressure builds across the uk which means light winds, subtle conditions, does not necessarily mean it will be desperately warm, it could only be

single figures but the weather is going good with sunshine and conditions of light winds. bye—bye.

europe the focal point of the global coronavirus outbreak. in the worst—affected country, italian doctors are treating patients in field hospitals because of pressure on services. europe has now become the epicentre of the pandemic, with more reported cases and deaths than the rest of the world combined, apart from china.